GDC 2024 Session Viewer

Videogames often contain minigames or sub-systems (e.g. fishing, gambling) that allow the player to blow off steam and take a break from the main gameplay. But we can get even more ambitious in how those sub-systems serve the main story or worldbuilding. In this talk, two designers on story-driven adventure game Saltsea Chronicles recount the development of a trick-taking card game, Spoils, that was created for the project. In the fictional world of Saltsea Chronicles, each island community plays Spoils, but with their own house rules. First, this talk describes how the core Spoils mechanic was inspired by both the politics and history of the fictional world. Second, the talk explains how the rules variations were used to deepen the sense of place of each in-game locale. Games inevitably reflect their cultural context, and we can use that dynamic to heighten the meaning of minigames in larger videogame worlds.

Takeaway

Ben and Doug will explain how minigame design can be used to enrich the game's story and worldbuilding; how research into a specific genre can be used to scaffold the design process, and how genre fluency can provide designers with a palette to work with when tailoring their own minigames.

Intended Audience

This talk is aimed at anyone working on story games, minigames, or card games, or anyone who is interested in how we can deepen the relationship between traditional game mechanics and worldbuilding. No specific prerequisite knowledge is required.